The oldest building in this residential artist retreat is the Fleitas House, a raised galleried house built c. 1800 nearby and moved a block to this site and remodeled in 1836. It now comprises offices, guest rooms, and a kitchen for the Joan Mitchell Center, the hub of which, an 8,000 square-foot L-shaped building of 2015 containing ten studios, is at the rear of the property. The studios, organized in a staggered arrangement, are each lit by a north-facing triangular-shaped clerestory and a controllable skylight. The Center is funded by a New York philanthropy founded in the memory of abstract painter Joan Mitchell, who died in 1992. The organization selected New Orleans as the site in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in order to help artists reestablish themselves. Architect Jonathan Tate converted the former restaurant at the corner of Bayou Road and N. Rocheblave Street into gallery space and several adjacent cottages into dormitories.